The Old Hall, Front Street, West Auckland,Bishop Auckland. £450k



Here’s a beautiful little thing.  Listed Grade ii* with seven bedrooms, for only £450k.

The house is currently divided up as a farmhouse and separate office, but is being sold as one piece.  I think if I was shown only the photograph and not given the address I would guess the house was in Somerset and put a price tag of £750k on it.  As it is way up north in West Auckland though it is good it has its own walled garden as spring comes very late in that neck of the woods (about 5 weeks later than sunny East Yorkshire.)

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-57787479.html








Sorry, Iforgot to edit the pictures. 

Anyway, you can see what a beautiful darling it is.  Do you like that shade of green that the front door is, with the golden stone?  I do, but I think I would have chosen a Heavenly blue instead.  



You’ve heard of the elephant in the room, here’s
the elephant on the landing.  This seems to be the original early staircase, in terms of its design, but looks in rather modern nick on the photograph and maybe something of a ‘Ship of Theseus’.


https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1209888

The listing information doesn’t mention the coat of arms.  Images of England has closed now and one
 is directed to the above site, but this does not contain an image of the property. 


Wonderful old stone mullions, crying out for beautiful simple flower arrangements in stone jars. 




Wonderful early fireplace. Look at that herringbone stone work, and the huge, gothic fireback. I wish it wasn’t carpeted right up to the edge of the hearth, one would hardly dare to set fire to those logs .  I think that is its original bread oven at the side.  



Another good fireplace in here, this time with a woodburner that would feel a bit safer. I like the orange colour behind it.  My parents bedroom in our Elizabethan house was painted that colour, so I have happy memories of lying on their orange bedspread in their orange bedroom, looking at the patterns the knots made on the underside of the attic floorboards between the joists and the beams.  I gave names to some of them, one of them was Pauline Bushnall, after the news reader on Radio 4. 










All is livable with, if a little over modernised on the fitted carpet front and so on.  As with most of these early props it’s just crying out for imagination and daring and artistic flare with early furniture, paint colour and works of art.  




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